Genomic and transcriptomic determinants of exceptional response of metastatich thyroid cancers to radioactive iodine therapy

The determinants of response or resistance to radioiodine (RAI) in metastatic thyroid cancer are unknown. A retrospective case-control study at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY) compared metastatic thyroid cancers with exceptional response (ER) to RAI versus no response (NR) tumors, matched by histologic type and stage at presentation. ER tumors had a lower MAPK output and higher thyroid differention score than NR tumors, whereas NR tumors had higher frequency of BRAF^V600E and 1q-gain. Molecular profiling of thyroid cancers might help predict respons to RAI therapy.